Izad Etemadi, AKA Leila at the Toronto Festival of Clowns this week
Last spring I met a wondrous woman. Leila. Bearded, kind-hearted, head-scarfed and absolutely hilarious. She was also a man. Leila is the titular character in Love with Leila, a show that is part of the Toronto Festival of Clowns, opening tomorrow at Factory Theatre (see end of interview for details). Leila is a character created by Izad Etemadi and developed for various shows, situations and media. She is Iranian, enthusiastic and totally lovable. So is he. Izad met me at the Grenadier Cafe at the heart of High Park and we talked in the sunshine for an hour and a half about a great many things. This one is a long one, my friends, but well worth the read. LR: When I was in Stratford a few weeks ago I saw Liza Balkan (director of Love with Leila) and she told me you were working on it again. I was very excited. I think it's important for the world to see this show! IE: Yeah. I took a part time job at Saks Fifth Avenue and on Sunday I spent tim...